stray kittens

[Shakespeare]

We have a mother cat with SIX!! kittens in our backyard. The problem is although the mother is quite tame, the kittens are almost feral. We have been feeding them to try to tame them, to eventually find homes. I am worried that we will not be able to tame them before they lose their cuteness, and we will be stuck with seven cats.

Any clues on how to tame them?

[Garfield]

I hope i am not too late.

Try to stroke them often and call out to their names often. Since they are still very young, i think it will need some time to let them get used to the environment. Giving them some toys to play will help too.

[Nightmare]

I agree with Garfeild. For one I hope I am not to late.

I know the problem Well. In 1997 my husband and I moved into a house in Texarkana Arkansas that had a Cat that someone had left there. We didn't know when we moved in that she had kittens. (only 5)

When the kittens started coming out, my first insticnt was to try to pick them up, but they wouldn't even come close.

Their mother supplied them with a steady stream of mice to eat, (we lived on a farm) but I felt like they needed more so we started feeding them dry food.

It took almost two months, but after feeding them and standing off to the side while they ate, they learned I didn't mean them any harm and would begin to let me touch them.

Alas, one was very timid and wouldn't let me get close to her. Then one day, I bought this toy called a crazy ball. It is a large colorful ring that has a ball inside it. The other four kittens took right to it and played and played, and finally the one had had enough, she had to play too.

Needless to say, she was so grateful for the toy that she began sitting on my lap and in my husbands chair to watch TV with him and now she is fat and sassy and living in Florida. Yes I am talking about my cat T.C. I wouldn't trade her for anything, she is a wonderful cat eventhough she was so afraid as a kitten.

Nightmare

[pussykatt]

I went through the exact thing and what I would suggest is to start with soft kitten food and when you notice them out go outside and sit down ever so slowly and softly and have the soft food maybe acouple feet away and it may take awhile for the cats to come but wait they more then likly should, then every other day are so move the food closer to you until it is as close as can be this may take the kittens longer but they should come around it just may take a while have some patience. let me know how it went.
P.S. use anything that you think the kittens will go for like meats, cat milk, because cats are lactose so make sure it is CAT milk if you give it. hope to here from you soon!
good luck